


Whatever I can

by PrincessAmericaChavez



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Character Death, Gen, I'm so sorry, Pain, Post-Season/Series 04, So much angst, Spoilers, alternative ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-13
Updated: 2017-10-13
Packaged: 2019-01-16 22:45:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12352095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessAmericaChavez/pseuds/PrincessAmericaChavez
Summary: I've got no witty sinopsis. Just this: The ending of Episode 6 but SAD





	Whatever I can

The clock is running against them. There is no way they'll get there on time. Even with Voltron's speed, they are too far away. The planet will explode, Shiro knows this deep in his bones, even if he can't bring himself to say it out loud. He needs to let the others cling to whatever hope they have left. Through the comms, he can hear the rebels struggling against the Galra ship. They aren't any closer to breaking through the shield and stopping Haggar. 

Shiro is not worried about himself. If he was facing this explosion alone, he would probably be able to handle it better, keep calm, search for another solution. The thing is he's not alone. He's sharply aware of his friends by his side, connected into his mind, struggling to move as quickly as possible. He can feel their fear. He can feel Hunk battling down his own anxiety; he can feel Lance longing for a home he's now sure he will never see again; he can feel Pidge's desperation, knowing she just found her brother only to lose him again; he can feel Allura's determination to keep pushing through her father's work, to her last breath. The idea of losing them, of knowing in a few minutes everything they are could be lost in the void of space... it's more than he can handle.

He is failing them. He's failing everyone then solar systems around. In his attempt to free them, he condemned them to death. How could he be this stupid? How could he chose to go to the one planet Haggar was ready to use as a bomb?

_(A voice nags in the back of his head, telling him something is wrong, that this can't be a coincidence, but he pushes it away. It doesn't matter right now.)_

"We'll never penetrate those shields!" Matt screams through the comms.

Shiro feels Pidge's slight comfort at hearing her brother's voice.

"Maybe not with our weapons," Keith suddenly whispers.

His voice is low, but in the tense silence of Voltron Shiro hears him loud and clear. He lets himself embrace the comfort of his voice, knowing at least Keith will be out of the weapon's range. Most importantly, though, he  _knows_ that tone: Keith has a plan. Probably a crazy, hot-headed, impulsive plan, but if anyone can pull something like that off, it'll be his best friends. He trusts him. He  _latches_ to that hope, even as he hears Matt scream in the comms, trying to talk Keith out of it. Shiro knows that is not going to happen, just as he knows with all his heart that, if there is a way to fix this, Keith will find it. No matter what.

Keith hasn't said much in the comms. Only a few seconds have passed. Whatever his plan is, he's not sharing, and they have no choice but to trust him. They trust him.

Shiro holds his breath, tightens his fingers around the handles, feels his own frantic heart beat threatening to burst out of his chest. He hopes. With every fiber of his being he hopes Keith can succeed in this, that he can save them all. If he does, Shiro promises himself, things will be different. He'll have time to fix things. He won't keep pushing Keith away. How could he? They need him. He needs him, with his crazy plans and his stubbornness and his relentless hope. Shiro has to live so they can make things right, so they can all be a team again. He can't die now, not when things are messed up like this. Keith would never forgive him.

There's a loud explosion near the battlefield, loud enough to hear it through the comms. The Black Lion's monitors show the planet's compression system powering down. 

"Good job, Keith!" Shiro chimes, feeling his chest burst with pride. 

He gets no answer, but he knows Keith is not very verbal, not even with him this days. He earned that. He'll fix it.

"We are on our way, Keith, will be there in a few minutes. Can you hold them off?"

No answer. Something inside his connection with Black twists. He can suddenly feel Lance tensing up too. 

"Keith?"

Still no answer. 

"Keith!"

"Matt, you got eyes on Keith?"

There's silence for a long moment, and Shiro is almost relieved. Must be their comms are down. Then, he hears Matt.

"Shiro..." He doesn't like the way his voice sounds, just like the last time he saw him years ago. Shiro pushes Voltron to go faster, the others fall in sync with him, their mental connections silent and tense.

"Matt," Shiro's voice is cold and even. "Where is Keith?"

"Shiro, he-" Matt chokes.

Shiro feels long sharp nails digging into his gut, a cold laughter dripping through his spine. 

"He what? Matt! What happened?!" He demands to know, clenching his fists around the controls. 

"We couldn't break the shield. I- I told him not to do it, but he wouldn't listen."

"What did he do?" Lance asks. Shiro can't find his own voice.

"He used his ship to break through. He's-"

"No."

No. Matt couldn't say that. He couldn't. It couldn't be true. 

They get to the battlefront. The Galra ship is gone. Pieces of wreckage float around. A horrible image flashes through Shiro's mind: Keith's body, small in the vastness of space, floating like he's sleeping, cold and gone. 

"We have to find him," he says, feeling his voice tremble.

"Searching for life signs," Pidge says, with her down-to-business voice.

His body, Shiro meant, they have to find his body. He doesn't dare say it out loud. 

"Let's separate, we will be able to cover more ground," Allura suggests.

Shiro goes along with it, feeling every movement as if his body wasn't his own. He feels far away. A million light years away, a life time ago. The Garrison. Keith. The last time they spoke and the pain in his eyes whenever Shiro disagreed with his decisions. Why had he done that? Why had he pushed him away? Why had it been Keith here and not in the Black Lion. It should be him. It should have been him. 

The others are scattered, looking for him, and Shiro can't move. He already knows, deep in his gut, they are not going to find him. The whole cosmos shifts around him, as if trying to accommodate to the idea of a universe without Keith. Shiro's mind can't understand the concept. It can't be real. 

It's should have been him.

 


End file.
